We’ve just finished our week with The Rat Pack – Live At The Sands at the spectacular NJPAC in Newark, New Jersey. We had a great band this week and I’d like to give a big shout out to all of them, especially my section mates Bruce Staelens and Tim Wendt.

It’s been a busy week which has seen me replace both my Trumpet and Mouthpiece! At the beginning of the week I found a used Schilke B7 trumpet at Roberto’s Woodwind in New York which is just fantastic. Then, on Thursday, Tim Wendt took me on a excursion to meet Greg Black; mouthpiece maker extraordinaire. We found that one of Greg’s stock rim/cups was almost identical to my Marcinkiewicz E13 and I spent a while trying out different backbores to accompany it. I was amazed to watch Greg make me a custom backbore on the spot and I’ve been using the mouthpiece since then. I hope to have a chance to pay him another visit very soon to iron out a couple of things that are troubling me with it but I pretty sure that I will only be playing his mouthpieces from now on. They really are superb!!
I took a few photos of the trip and they’ll be available in the Gallery shortly. A big thankyou goes to Greg for taking time to see me and to Tim Wendt for chauffeuring me there and back. Thanks guys!

I just heard from Thomas Gansch about the final dates for the short tour we’re doing in Austria in late April/early May with his band; “Gansch & Roses“. They are:

• 28th April – Lofer (7pm)
• 29th April – Gutenbrunn (8pm)
• 30th April – Porgy & Bess, Vienna (8pm)
• 1st May – Horitschon (7.30pm)

If you’re nearby any of these places then come and check it out!

I finally submitted to peer pressure and got myself a MySpace page. If you’re so inclined, you can go visit me at MySpace.com/BryanDavistpt.

I hate myself sometimes….

I was delighted to receive a call from my old friend Thomas Gansch the other day. Thomas is a fine trumpet player from Vienna, Austria who I got to know during numerous visits to the Jam Session at the wonderful Porgy & Bess Jazz Club there. He was calling to invite me to go and play with his band; Gansch and Roses; on their short tour at the end of April.

I checked out some of their stuff on YouTube and it really should be a lot of fun. Not only will it be a different gig from my normal Rat Pack escapades but a really interesting and challenging one at that. I’ve added the dates to my schedule and will confirm more details of the venues as I’m told them! If you’re reading this from Austria then try and come out and see us!